With no previous intention to venture into the area of furniture design, the Austrian artist Roland Graf has realised this simple wood-and-steel table, his first piece of furniture, following a personal request from his father who needed a large dining table for his retirement party. The oversized prototype, which Graf has hand-assembled from seven pine planks and metal without the use of any nails or glue, has now been scaled down and is produced by the famous Danish manufacturer, Fredericia Furniture.

'Slim Jim' table by Roland Graf for Fredericia Furniture

From the designer:

‘For Slim Jim I also played with the most simple materials that I could find. But this time, I used round steel for the table legs and bent it in a way that you would probably only bend a wire coat hanger when you break into cars.’

‘When I design simple objects such as the Slim Jim table it usually happens completely freestyle and without the use of mouse or drawing pen. I also do not measure much, because numbers don’t really matter here. The table has to work and feel good. I spend so much time in front of the computer in my daily work that I need to unwind – that is what I do when I design these kinds of simple objects. I think, it has become a form of therapy for me.’